Regarding Heroes
by Ditto Redeaux
Summary: To the world you may be just one person, but to one person you may be the world. Harley and Pepperony Centric Rated T for mentions of child abuse, substance abuse, language, and others.
1. Prologue: Hero

_Hello readers,_

_I have a few words before you begin this story, my first venture into Marvel Fanfiction._

_For starters, I don't own Iron Man._

_Secondly, there are spoilers ahead, reader beware, this story is set at the end of Iron Man Three between Tony getting the reactor removed and declaring that he is Iron Man, it assumes a larger time gap._

_Finally, before you start reading I want you to think back to your school years, and all of those prompts that maybe you never thought twice about afterwards, and I want you to think about what you would say now if you had to rewrite them._

_Ditto Redeaux_

* * *

he·ro

ˈhi(ə)rō/

_noun_

a person, typically a man, who is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities.

"a war hero"

another term for submarine sandwich.

* * *

"Hi everyone, my name is Harley Keener, and I'm in Mrs. Brown's fifth grade class. We wrote about heroes." He looked to his teacher and his class sitting in the audience for reassurance. Mrs. Brown nodded and he took a deep breath and looked down at his paper. "I called this paper _My Hero_, um it's by me, Harley Keener, I wrote it, but I guess you knew that already." He smiled balefully, doing his best to push down his nerves, "I know I'm not supposed to be reading my paper, but I'm going to read some of it, '_the Merriam-Webster dictionary defines the word hero as a noun, a person who is admired for great or brave acts or fine qualities, a person who is greatly admired, and the chief male character in a story, play, movie, e t c._' I think I was supposed to say that as _etcetera_." The teachers and other adults all laughed. "I didn't really know what to write about at first. A lot of students wrote about their dads, but he's not my hero, and I didn't really understand why until I talked to Mrs. Brown about it. I thought heroes were people like Thor and Captain America, but she really helped clear things up. We have a quote hanging in our classroom and it says: _'to the world you may be just one person, but to one person you may be the world_,' I don't remember who said that though." There were more chuckles, "I thought that was just an individual thing, but Mrs. Brown helped me realize that it's more than that, that our heroes don't have to mean something to the world, that it's really just about us. I picked Iron Man, but it's not because he's a super hero and he's saved the world, even though he did, it's because he's Tony Stark, and he's my friend. I think that's the most important part. I don't get to talk to him much anymore, he's really busy being a super hero for everyone else, and that's okay because I know he's a hero, he's my hero."


	2. Chapter 1: Desperation

des·per·a·tion

ˌdespəˈrāSHən/

_noun_

a state of despair, typically one that results in rash or extreme behavior.

* * *

Harley looked up at the looming tower and back down at the paper he held in his hand. He had traveled over 715 miles to find it, and yet was finding difficulty taking those final steps. It was definitely the right place. He hadn't told anyone he was leaving, he had just left, he wasn't sure they would even notice anyways, maybe the school would when unexplained absences turned into truancy, but he had planned to be long gone by then. He had planned it out entirely, saved money for the bus fare, hitch hiked his way to Knoxville, and from there he made it to New York, sticking close to family groups that he could easily blend into. After a deep breath he pushed open the door. Even the lobby, easily accessed by the public, was impressive, clean sweeping lines, they hadn't had anything like this in Rose Hill, that was for certain, though that held true for most of New York. "I am sorry, you do not have access to this area." A serene, female voice resounded when he tried a door.

"JARVIS?" He stepped away, back to the center of the room, "That's so cool, Tony must've fixed your speech drive by now, huh? He must have changed your voice too." The last he had heard of the AI he was distinctly male, British, and he would do fine for a stretch and at the end of a sentence, say the wrong cranberry. "Is Tony here? I'm sort of looking for him."

"I have informed Miss Potts of your presence, Mr. Keener, Mr. Stark is currently unavailable. Mr. Stark is available between the hours of eight and five every other Thursday, and only by appointment, hours are subject to change." The cool voice felt uncomfortably impersonal in comparison to the computer he had shared his workspace with and had asked every question that had come to mind, "Miss Potts will be with you soon." There was silence for a few moments, and Harley sank onto one of the waiting chairs in the lobby. A man walked by behind a floor polisher, but aside from a few others who moved silently through the lobby the boy was alone. "You have been interacting with CRIS a Computer Reactive Intelligence System. If you are interested in owning a CRIS module for business, home, or personal use, please speak to one of our sales representatives." There was silence again, before CRIS came back, brighter than ever. "Welcome to Stark Industries. We appreciate your business. We would like to remind visitors that walk in appointments may be scheduled at the front desk between our abridged hours of nine o clock am and two o clock pm Mondays through Friday this holiday season. If you are looking for information about this year's expo events we invite you to pick up a brochure and visit our website! Thank you and have a nice day!" Music filtered through the room, it was cheerful and felt about as misplaced as Harley did in the pristine lobby.

"You have been listening to the music from the Stark World Exposition! Stark Industries is creating better living for you and your family through technology! The Stark Expo would not be the same without support from its sponsors, subsidiaries, and participants. Experience the exciting world of tomorrow today at the 2014 Stark Expo. Our sponsors include Marvel, Dr. Pepper, LG, Reese Peanut Butter Cups, SEGA, Burger King, Gameloft, Symantex's Norton, Semir, Oracle, Royal Purple Synthetic Oil, Audi, 7-11, and Turk Tele Com! If you would like your company to be listed here, please speak to the staff about sponsoring this year's expo. Do you have an exciting new invention that you would like to see at the Expo? We invite you to fill out a form, and we will get back to you!"

Nearly an hour and a half later, after CRIS had looped several times and several more lights had gone off within the building as it neared eight pm, the elevator doors slid open and a woman in a business suit stepped out. "Mute." Her own voice was sharp and tired, and she sounded slightly disgusted with the AI that was a recent creation of their Research and Development department. The voice fell silent, leaving only the clicking of her heels echoing through the lobby. She was ready to dismantle their demonstrational version of CRIS herself.

She stopped in the middle of the room, looking around. She finally spotted Harley, and cleared the distance between them in quick strides. "Harley Keener?" She waited for his nod before sitting down in the chair across from him. "Hi Harley, I'm Pepper, and I'm so sorry for the wait, I was in a meeting that ran longer than expected, I heard you were looking for Mr. Stark?" Pepper waited for him to nod his head, "While I'm sure he would love to meet with you, he is a very busy man, always working." The lie that she had been telling their investors when Tony missed meetings slipped off her tongue with a revolting ease.

The child's face fell, "Oh." It wasn't shocked, just disappointed. "Figures." She offered him a gentle, if sad, smile, before she moved to stand. "Wait, I made him something." He pulled his backpack into his lap, rummaging through it before he handed Pepper a small, scarf wrapped bundle.

Pepper turned the object over in her hand after she unwrapped it. Her lips curled into a far more genuine smile. "Is this what I think it is?" She lifted the small army man from the material, a bunched parachute trailing on thin strings.

"Its retro reflective" He pitched, as she unfurled the flimsy material, "Well sort of, that's just cellophane." The idea was there anyways, "I couldn't build a life size model, but I'm working on it, or… I was." His lip caught between his teeth.

She sighed, rewrapping the toy, "I'm sorry Harley, there's really nothing I can do." The disappointment was still tangible in the way his chin dipped to his chest, and it had Pepper's heart clenching, but it was getting late, she glanced around the room before standing, "You know what, he's supposed to be here next Thursday, why don't you come back then, and we'll see if we can't get you in." She would drag Tony by the ear if she had to.

The kid didn't seem placated by the idea though and he shook his head, before catching her sleeve, "Please, I really need to talk to him. It's important." He gave her the most innocent wide eyed expression, "I don't have anywhere else to go. Tony's all I have."

Oh, that was a street she really didn't want to go down, "Well, what about your parents? I'm sure they're worried about you."

His fingers tightened before letting go, "Tony is _all_ I have." He repeated emphatically.

She sighed taking in the black eye, the woe begotten expression, the general air of misery, and she made up her mind on what had to be done.


	3. Chapter 3: Broken

bro·ken

ˈbrōkən/

_adjective_

having been fractured or damaged and no longer in one piece or in working order.

"a broken arm"

(of a person) having given up all hope; despairing.

* * *

The elevator doors slid open onto the very last of the R&D floors. "Stay here." She advised the boy as she took off down the hall, her heels tapping out a crisp tattoo against the tiles.

"You're mad about something, and it's something new." He ducked behind a screen, reappearing on the other side with his palms extended. "And I actually don't know what it is this time."

"Look Tony, I can't protect you or this company unless you level with me."

"Okay, okay, I'll admit it, I dipped into the research funds for development, to be fair, I needed it and you cut off my allowance."

That wasn't what she had been expecting, "You _what_?"

His face fell as he realized that they most certainly weren't on the same page. "Oh." He kept moving about the room, keeping screens and bits of tech between them.

She hadn't moved, "You…" Incredulity was fading quickly, but still her head cocked, "what?"

He had dug himself his own grave on this one, "I wouldn't have had to if you hadn't locked my account for development, Pepper, I need that money."

Pepper shook her head, "No, Tony, you need to do research, I can't keep routing all of our funding to development when you won't research what you are developing." It had been a problem. She had allocated funds to distribute to their subsidiaries as grants.

Tony was quick to defend himself, "I'm researching through development! That's why it's called experimentation."

"You're not developing anything!" Pepper exclaimed, "You're hoarding funds, anyways that's not what I came down here about. I was a little more interested in the kid who has been waiting in our lobby who says you're all he has." She opened a screen on her tablet before turning it to face him.

"Nope, don't know him." He barely glanced at the screen. "Not mine, try to get the press to stay out of it, offer to pay off the mother if she wants to push for a paternity test." He looked back up to her after a moment, brows drawing together, "Usual drill, this is something else."

"Well he knows you, and I don't think he's after money." She waited for a moment before continuing. "His name's Harley Keener."

There was a beat in which Pepper saw the recognition flash before it mingled with an odd expression of desperation before his expression shuttered off entirely, hardening into something cold, "No."

She stalked around the counter, "No what? No, he's not your son, no, you don't know him, no, something else entirely, no what Tony?"

He stopped so suddenly she nearly collided into him as he turned to face her, "Yes I know him, no, he's not my son, and no, he can't be here, I don't want him here." He sighed and then gestured with the tool he had picked up as he reached for words to explain, "Look, I met him once in Tennessee." _Oh, _she realized, he was _that_ kid.

"Tony, I think he actually needs you, or at least he thinks he does, he seems to be under the impression that…"

"He needs a superhero, not me!" The shout caught her off guard. The pain was tangible, the self-hatred far too close to the surface. "Whatever he's looking for, whoever he is looking for, it's long gone."

"Tony-" She started, desperate to make him see reason.

"Don't." It was just one word, tired, aching, reminiscent that they had had that conversation far too many times.

"What do you want me to do? I can't just send him away!" She realized with a sinking feeling that was exactly what he intended for her to do.

"Tell him I'm busy, tell him I'm out saving the world-"

"Tell him you spend the majority of the time drunk and the rest of it shirking any and all responsibilities?" Her tone was waspish and hurt, her own troubles with the man rising to the surface, "Tell him that you spend all of your time locked in here? That you've closed out everyone that might care about you because-" She trailed off at the tears that threatened to fall.

He sighed and she could hear the tiredness, and it almost broke her. "Just get rid of him Pep."

She dropped the parachutist on his workbench, "Just get rid of that." She responded tartly.

"Pepper." She ignored him, "Pep, honey, wait… I didn't… we're, we're fine, this isn't… Pep."

She ducked her head, refusing to turn back to him, "No Tony, we aren't, but we haven't been. Not in a very long time."


End file.
